Wednesday

Mar 20, 2019 at 5:40 PMMar 21, 2019 at 5:56 AM

Ohio Senate leadership appears to be zeroing in on a gas-tax increase of around 6 cents a gallon — about one-third the size requested by Gov. Mike DeWine and nearly 5 cents less than the amount approved by the House.

That is, if majority legislative Republicans pass any gas-tax increase at all. Leaving the rate at the current 28 cents per gallon remains an option.

Details are expected to be finalized and approved between Thursday and Monday. DeWine continued to say Wednesday that he is optimistic the final bill would generate more revenue than what the House approved, though it looked more likely that the Senate was aiming at a $400 million-per-year target instead of his proposed $1.2 billion.

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"If people think the roads are bad today, if we don't step up and do what we need to do, these roads are going to get even worse," the first-year Republican governor said.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Larry Householder said he is “very, very concerned” that the two chambers will be unable to work out a transportation budget that the governor is willing to sign by the March 31 deadline. The House, he said, is preparing a short-term transportation budget in case it’s needed.

Householder, R-Glenford, said the House canceled its Thursday session “because we’ve lost faith in the Senate being able to put something together still this week.”

Senate Republican leaders have not been convinced that the road-funding need is as big as the DeWine administration says. Senate leaders are expected to provide details of how they arrived at their new gas-tax number once the plan is approved.

“We’re all just trying to figure out what is the best option to fund (the Ohio Department of Transportation) and the locals to the degree we feel is necessary,” said Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, the Senate Transportation Committee chairman.

Some questions have surrounded the total need for safety projects, and just how much is needed for maintenance. For example, under Gov. John Kasich, the Department of Transportation submitted a budget request last fall that called for $1.72 billion for maintenance in 2020, but DeWine’s proposal calls for $1.94 billion.

“We would not recommend that anyone in the Senate refer to (the prior) scenario in their deliberations on the motor vehicle fuel tax,” said Erica Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. That agency proposal submitted last year was based on available revenue, she said, and it included $156 million in delayed maintenance projects and involved “cutting numerous other programs.”

In addition to the gas tax, the Senate also will add policy changes to the transportation budget. McColley and Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, for example, say they’d like to see language making prevailing wage on public projects voluntary. Householder supports keeping prevailing wages.

The Senate already has removed most of the policy changes that the House added to the budget.

“I guess I’m concerned about all of them in total, but I also assume that’s probably a negotiating tool by the Senate,” Householder said, noting it even removed a ban on people grabbing hold of cars while riding skateboards. “Seems like a no-brainer to me.”

In the House, Democratic votes were key to passing the transportation budget. Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, said it will be a problem if the Senate reduces transit funding from the $100 million per year approved by the House, or decreases the extra 5 percent share of new gas-tax revenue that is directed to local governments.

The Senate is expected to reduce the transit-funding figure, possibly back to the $40 million per year proposed by DeWine, which is an increase from the current $33 million.

“We see this as an economic health, quality-of-life issue," Sykes said. "If they substantially modify that, then they are very much at risk of losing the support of this caucus.”

Dispatch Reporter Randy Ludlow contributed to this story.

jsiegel@dispatch.com

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